Monday, May 28, 2012

Remembering our brave men and women on Memorial Day

We honor all those brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom along with those who are serving overseas today.




Friday, May 18, 2012

Franciscan University is First Catholic Casualty Due to HHS Mandate,Obamacare

So, actually you can't keep your insurance. Something I figured was the true intent the entire time. There plan is to force us into a single-payer health system. That is a major reason why Obamacare either needs to be struck down by the Supreme Court or repealed. Franciscan University is my alma mater and it is sad that because of the rising government health care costs because the federal government is marching forward instituting this boondoggle that the university has been forced to drop their health insurance coverage for students. In addition Franciscan University has made it crystal clear that it will not comply with the unjust HHS mandate which would force them to violate their beliefs in accordance with Holy Roman Catholic Church.  Obamacare is an example of secularism run amok.  Hopefully we will hear in June that the Supreme Court has struck down Obamacare.



Here is the new policy from Franciscan University:

Campus Health Insurance Policy


The Obama Administration has mandated that all health insurance plans must cover “women’s health services” including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing medications as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Up to this time, Franciscan University has specifically excluded these services and products from its student health insurance policy, and we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.
Additionally, the PPACA increased the mandated maximum coverage amount for student policies to $100,000 for the 2012-13 school year, which would effectively double your premium cost for the policy in fall 2012, with the expectation of further increases in the future.
Due to these changes in regulation by the federal government, beginning with the 2012-13 school year, the University 1) will no longer require that all full-time undergraduate students carry health insurance, 2) will no longer offer a student health insurance plan, and 3) will no longer bill those not covered under a parent/guardian plan or personal plan for student health insurance. The current student health insurance plan will expire on August 15, 2012.
We encourage you to decide how you are going to provide for accidents or illnesses requiring visits to physicians, health clinics, or the hospital emergency room while you are a student here. As always, our Health Center on campus will be staffed by a certified nurse practitioner Monday – Friday during normal business hours. No insurance is necessary to receive basic health-related services at the Health Center, and the visits cost only $5 at the time of service. However, if you are referred off campus for further lab testing, physician specialists, X-rays, etc., you will be responsible to pay for those services. 



Monday, May 7, 2012

Bishop Thomas Says 'No More Camouflage Catholics'

I found this article via the Catholic Bandit. Bishop George Leo Thomas of Helena, Montana has just returned home from an ad limina apostolorum visit with the Holy Father.  Bishop Thomas talked to Christopher Wells about his visit and outlined plans for the New Evangelisation. 


 “We’re beginning, first of all, by mobilising the diocesan clergy. They’re really the key to bringing the vision of the New Evangelisation to the people. So our presbyteral council – our priest council in our own diocese – and I are working together to create a very concerted plan in this upcoming Year of Faith, that would help each Catholic reclaim his or her own baptismal promise and identity as a Catholic, and then to very courageously invite others to see and taste the goodness of the Lord.” 
He said, “My message, of course over and over again, is: No more ‘camouflage Catholics’ in our diocese! Mediocrity, the lukewarm spirit, is an enemy of the Church.” But, he added, his message is a very positive one: “The Church in the Northwest is very intentional, very dynamic… So I see it as a springtime in the Church.” 
Bishop Thomas concluded with a call to Catholics throughout the world: “One thing that I would certainly want to share with the people of our own diocese, but certainly across the country and the world, and that is to take seriously your own individual call to holiness your personal encounter with Christ, and to remain very steeped in the sacramental life of the Church. It is an emancipating and joyful life as a Catholic.”
The saying 'Camouflage Catholics' that Bishop Thomas coined is a very clever characterization of silent, wishy-washy Catholics who merely sit on the sidelines. I think the good bishop's fervor needs to be applied all cross America and beyond.